Hopefully SC's not pulling on the handlebars hard constantly. It's why spinning is so important when riding recumbents. In most cases, you wouldn't be mashing on one unless you're racing. Plus mashing tends to hurt the sole of the feet (e.g. hot foot) for many people whether they have developed recumbent legs or not.

Jasong:

Regarding pull on the handlebars - the DT components (folding stem assembly) were removed and replaced with a straight aluminum "steerer" tube. The stem bolts onto this tube. There is a bit of stress on these pieces because of the necessary counterpull on the handlebars. The harder you mash on the pedals, the more the counterpull. Presumably, the engineering of the kit takes this into account.

Pulling on the bars is necessary because you are pedalling directly against the front wheel. Even though the pedalling movement is mostly in a circle parallel to the wheels, there is a bit of torque due to the offset of the pedals. It's not huge, but it's enough to impact the steering. The more precise your pedalling, the less the impact. Also, as I said earlier, some people have managed to ride hands free, so they've obviously sorted out the foot steer impact.

It takes a little effort to ride fwd. For me, it took about 15 minutes to get going in a straight line. Then a few miles before I was confident enough to ride in the streets.

Update: Added a child seat so my 3 year old son and I can ride together. This thing is a blast! Can you tell how much fun we're having?

How would you say is the grip of the front wheel drive compared to the conventional back? I am thinking riding up a gravel slope in lowest gear here.

Looking at the pic with you on the bike, I wonder if the hinge has more stress than before.

This conversion will rock on a DTFS.

I moved my seat up pretty far forward to improve grip (from my initial install). I still occasionally get a mild front wheel slip on wet surfaces with 7% or 8% slopes, usually when I'm starting to pedal. On dry surfaces, I haven't experienced any problems. I haven't gone on gravel, so I can't say firsthand. Also it would depend on how packed the gravel is, what kind of tires, etc. I can somewhat influence my weight distribution by leaning forward.

Yeah, the DT FS would be a great platform for the kit. It would be a great cruiser!

Awesome bike Sesame...Check ya PM

Did you add a tripple chainring to that Downtube? Interesting!

Yup. I really needed the extra gearing with the recumbent. Can't climb well in that position.

With the movable front BB, I used friction shifters, just to avoid any calibration problems. It was a good choice as they installed easily and work well!